We already had semi-official word that this was about to happen, but Microsoft today confirmed that the Zune branding is to be officially killed off by Microsoft this year in favor of an "Xbox" entertainment branding instead.
The Microsoft Blog confirmed this today, with Yusuf Mehdi, Chief Marketing Officer posting on the Official Microsoft Blog that "[Microsoft's] success with Xbox has been lead by a box in the living room" and "moving forward, Xbox will go beyond the box to reach all new families of devices."
Yusuf went on to say that;
This year, Xbox becomes the premium entertainment service for Microsoft. Whether on your PC, tablet, TV or phone, Xbox will be a gateway to the best in music and video, your favorite games and instant access to your friends. With the launch of Windows 8, we’ll bring Xbox entertainment to everyone. With Xbox on Windows 8 devices, we rapidly accelerate the reach of Xbox entertainment from more than 60 million people to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
It's great to see Microsoft unifying their brands under one banner, rather than having fragmented brands like Zune and Windows Live encompassing a wide range of services. Microsoft says that they'll be showing off the first of the rebranding at E3 next week; with a few surprises up their sleeves (which we suspect will probably be Windows 8 tablets).
Source: Official Microsoft Blog
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